Also known as the Yi Jing, Zhouyi or Book of Changes, this oracle is one of the worlds’s most revered and ancient books, originating in China around five thousand years ago. Richard Wilhelm, who published a much-respected interpretation of the I Ching in the 1920’s, said this about it:

Nearly all that is greatest and most significant in the three thousand years of Chinese cultural history has either taken its inspiration from this book, or has exerted an influence on the interpretation of its text. Therefore it may safely be said that the wisdom of thousands of years has gone into the making of the I Ching.

Reading this, one is left in no doubts as to the honourable lineage of this venerated tome… but could be forgiven for imagining that it might not exactly be an engaging page-turner.

This Book is so worthy that even the word ‘book’ begins with a capital; it sounds like something one probably should read, but which one just might not get around to because it sounds a bit too much like hard work.

One could not, without interacting with it ~ for it requires this mutual exchange rather than to merely be 'read’ ~ imagine its profundity, its humour, its relevance, its very aliveness.

For those with whom it resonates, there is the spark of recognition experienced when meeting a kindred spirit and feeling a meeting of hearts and minds.

The analogy could be made to a bolt of lightning travelling towards the Earth which, as revealed with high-speed photography, meets a reciprocating ‘streamer’ of lightning emanating from the ground, resulting in a double-ended, super-charged bridge of energised light connecting Heaven and Earth.

Similarly, where the spirit of the Zhouyi finds resonance in the spirit of one who connects with it, the potential for great insight and transformation is actualised.

This is all the more striking when one considers the great age of the Book and its origins in a very different world.

The I Ching can transcend all of these perceived barriers of language, culture, space and time, for it speaks heart to heart, and has a profound ability to transform itself throughout the ages, effortlessly harmonising itself to the ever-evolving needs of humanity.

In this critical time of powerful transition, as the very future of the Earth and all her beings hangs in the balance, such heart-centred assistance in living our truth is of inestimable value.

At art college age 18 :)

For my eighteenth birthday, a good friend gave me a copy of the I Ching and it, in turn, became a close and loving friend; one who was always there for me to give me counsel about anything which concerned or confused me in life.

I came to have deep faith that the wisdom being shared with me, in turns gentle, shocking, humorous and awe-inspiring, was always for my highest good…and, as the friendship deepened, it connected me ever more strongly with my own inner truth.

Through this, I began to feel empowered to chart a clear course through my life day by day and decision by decision…and, finally, inspired enough to share this incredible friend I'd made with others.

That ~ ten years after I first opened the Book of Changes ~ was the beginning of a twenty-year-long creative immersion in the mysterious waters of Zhouyi.